▶ @gladstonetm : 💍 ↳ mermaid starters
It’s not the idea of wedding a land dweller that bothers her. She’s not an old — fashioned soul, not so rooted in tradition she wouldn’t embrace new ways & peaceful change. A good leader really can’t afford to be anyway, right ? No, it isn’t that. Nothing like that.
Rather, it’s the helplessness of having no say, of being trapped not only in this arrangement but in general. She feels like she is going to be sick any moment now. She frets with her dress, picking at the skirt, at the collar. Her stomach is twisted in knots. She could run back to the sea any moment now, fling herself into the surf & vanish under the waves, off to hide in some far unreachable corner of the world, never again to return to her home nor emerge on land. But running is not an option. It never has been.
❝ I don’t want to meet him, M’ma, ❞ she protests, accent strong in her complaint. She’s used to the tongue of the sea, but her English is perfect. ❝ I want to stay here. Please ? I’m not ready. I’m hungry. ❞